Doctor Who? Doctor Awesome
by rupzydaisy
Summary: Drabble Series. Human/Time Lord AU. Matthew Williams was ready to celebrate an ordinary Christmas. But when a spaceship crashes and a stranger called the Doctor whisks him off on the promise of adventure, Christmas gets replaced with something a little bit more awesome. Doctor!Prussia/12th Doctor.
1. Pantomime

Doctor Who? ...Doctor Awesome

A/N: This is as far as I can go with crack, more lighthearted than anything, and I hope you enjoy the awesome-ness that is Prussia as the Doctor! A story told in drabbles :)

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Pantomime

Matthew had gone to watch his brother at the Christmas pantomime he was starring in, one with a super-hero twist. It was in a small rented theatre on one of the side streets in the middle of the city. The red seats leading down the darkened stage were filled up with the children from the local junior school and their parents. The low sound of children chattering and arguing filled the room, along with parents trying to quieten them down or find some seats clustered together to accomodate their brood.

He managed to find a free one on the far left hand side and quickly sat down, programme in hand. The lights dimmed as soon as everyone had settled down and the introduction music started up with a fanfare. A young man with blond hair and a face quite similar to Matthew's bounded onto stage with a broad smile and the kids cheered enthusiastically.

"Hello everyone!" Alfred Jones called, looking a little laughable in his costume, but nevertheless smiling under the blue mask. "And Merry Christmas!"

The posters dotted around the area had advertised the evening as the perfect holiday pantomime for the family.


	2. Hell

Hell

It quickly turned to hell as the roof began to buckle and heavy thuds reverberated through the walls and floor. People screamed and scrambled out of their seats as fast as they could. Someone had slammed their fist into the wall, and then the fire alarm was ringing loudly, urging people to move faster. Chunks of moulded cream plaster rained down, and children were being pushed up onto the stage and out of the fire exit behind. Matthew's brother, Alfred, who had abandoned his role as the main character in the play, was reaching out as a little girl stretched on her toes to grab hold of his hand. But she couldn't quite reach and started to cry while he tried to persuade her to keep trying. So after remembering how to move his feet, Matthew raced down the steps and picked her up, handing her to Alfred who placed her on her feet and nudged her backstage along with the crowd of families rushing away.


	3. Crashing

Crashing

The roof came crashing down, but luckily most people were out of the theatre. A few stragglers pulled themselves up onto the stage. Matthew had a bit of help from Alfred, and then they stood to watch as the roof caved in. Bits and pieces landed on the red cushioned seats and sent clouds of dust and debris up into the air.

Alfred pulled off his blue mask and stuffed it into his pocket, "Wow, is that a...spaceship?" He remarked as the two brothers stared at the grey, hulking mass which had stuffed itself into the small theatre. Lights blinked and then flickered, before a small rectangular piece opened outwards from body of the ship, moving downwards to create a walkway that led down towards the bottom of the stage.


	4. Dalliance

Dalliance

"Maybe...we should...go?" Matthew said slowly, hardly blinking at the remarkable sight of the wrecked theatre.

"Yeah, yeah, we should, shouldn't we?" Alfred replied. They were the only two left the in the building. The rafters creaked, threatening to cave in, but neither of them made a move to leave.

They were snapped out of their daze as the rigging for the stage lights crashed down, and the sound of glass splintering made them jump. Matthew stumbled back, and then was held up by a pair of not-Alfred's arms. "Looks like this is going to be an awesome Christmas!" He heard a man call out enthusiastically.

Matthew looked at the stranger who pushed him back up to his feet. He had stepped past him, ignoring the mumbled 'thank you' Matthew had offered, and was surveying the theatre with a broad smile.

The newcomer had a shock of white hair but he was young and Matthew could have guessed he was in his mid-twenties. He wore a thick, dark blue coat fastened with shiny gold buttons and black jeans, along with matt black boots. His eyes were bright red and sparkled merrily at the sight of the destruction of the theatre before focusing narrowly on the hulking mass of the spaceship. "An awesome Christmas indeed."


	5. Questions

Questions

A PA system from inside the spaceship switched on, and then a grating voice filled up the theatre. "We will take this planet. Who will submit control to us? Who is your representative?"

The loud volume shook more dust and bits of rubble from the walls and ceiling, it rained down onto the stage. "I thought it'd be different from the movies, why couldn't the aliens come in peace?" Alfred moaned, arms raised up to shelter his head.

"You get one warning, this is it. Leave this planet now. Or else I'll have to make you. Understand?" The white haired stranger shouted out at the ship in a bold and daring voice that seemed louder than the PA system.

"Who are you?" Matthew breathed in awe from beside the red velvet curtains. Because he knew no sane human could ever stand in front of a threatening alien spaceship and give orders.


	6. Observer

Observer

The man turned around to face him and laughed, "Who am I?" Then he turned back towards the ship, "Scan me. Let's see, shall we? Who. Am. I?" He demanded in a low tone.

There was a faint humming sound and the PA system replied, "You are the Doctor."

"And...?" The white haired man called the Doctor prompted.

"We see this planet has a defender. We recognise you. We shall leave." The grating voice now sounded fearful.

"Damn right you will!" The Doctor shouted back, as the engines hummed and the ship jerkedupwards and extracted itself from the seats and the roof before speedily retreating, leaving the building in a bigger mess. "And that's _'an awesome'_ defender to you!" He tacked on.

"Who were they?" Alfred asked, blinking at the sight of the grey streak in the sky as the alien spaceship flew away.

"Exploiters, possibly slave traders. More than likely some of those salvagers hoping to break into the big time. Small fry when you humans have got me around." The stranger whacked Alfred on his back cheerfully. "So, who are you supposed to be?"

"Captain America." Alfred chuckled back weakly. "This year's Christmas pantomime."

The Doctor blinked blankly at the red and blue outfit. "Ah right. And you?" He turned to face Matthew, noting the lack of costume.

Matthew was quick to reply, waving his hands at plain, ordinary clothes. A beige winter coat and dark blue jeans. "Oh no, I was just here to watch."

The Doctor hummed in reply, looking a little thoughtful, "Is that so?" Matthew nodded in reply. "Oh, well then. I'll be off, lots of awesome places to see, tons of awesome things to do." Then he turned around and headed off backstage to the fire exit.


	7. Identity

Identity

Matthew looked at Alfred who seemed to be in shock, he was staring at the gaping hole in the ceiling and watching bits of rubble fall down with little clacks and thuds. "I'll be back in a moment," he told his brother and then rushed off after the strange man.

Glass crunched under his trainers, the whole building was a mess and the childrens' evening was utterly ruined, but Matthew supposed that it was better ruined than being zapped by aliens. He caught up to the Doctor just by the doorway, "Hey, hold on!" He called out, waving his arm to try and get the man's attention.

The Doctor paused, just a few steps away from the curtain covering the fire exit. The door had been left open by the audience's quick exit and the black material billowed inwards. "Yes?" He asked impatiently.

"Who are you?"


	8. Answers

Answers

"Who am I?" The stranger repeated, staring back at Matthew. "I'm the Doctor. I am awesome. I travel in time and space. I defend this little blue and white marble of a planet in my spare time, when I'm not busy on the most amazing adventures you couldn't even dream about."

"Oh." Was all Matthew managed to say to that.

"I'm the Last Time Lord. I can tell when the threads of Time are tangled up, when the tick of a clock is wrong, and then I do my very best to fix it."

"That's..." Matthew couldn't find the words to reply.

_"And_ I am always punctual." The Doctor finished off with a sharp nod.


	9. Hours

Hours

Hours seemed to pass from the time it took Matthew to breathe in and out as he took in all the words that made up the Doctor's answer. _A Time Lord? Did that mean he's an alien too? _

Then he noticed the other man's mouth moving. Blinking he tried to focus on the low sound. "What?"

"I said, who are you then?" The Doctor asked curiously, a pale eyebrow rising up as he scrutinised him.

"Oh, I'm just Matthew. Matthew Williams." He replied with a self-deprecating shrug. "And I'm, um, human too."

That made the Doctor laugh.


	10. Sapphire

Sapphire

After noting that Matthew didn't laugh along with him, the Doctor's laugh trailed off. "Just Matthew Williams, huh?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor leaned forwards, vivid red eyes stared deep into sapphire blue ones, searching for something. And then he found it, hidden down deep under the irises and in the very stance of young human standing before him.

Fatelines slotted into place with a tick of the third hand of a pocketwatch buried in the overflowing toolbox of the TARDIS lying on the carpet.

"Well then, Just Matthew Williams...Would you like to travel with me?" The Doctor asked.

Matthew blinked back, his mouth fell open. "Travel? With you?"

"The whole entirety of time and space. We can go...visit the past, take a spin to the future, see the most awesome things you've ever seen..." He trailed off and held his breath. Deep down inside he was allowing himself to be a little hopeful, because this Just Matthew Williams had a spark about him.


	11. Desire

Desire

The Doctor looked expectantly towards him.

Matthew knew that it was Christmas Eve. Tomorrow, he and Alfred would meet up with their respective fathers at the Kirkland's and they would have a Christmas dinner full of noise and family arguments over Arthur's cooking and he and Francis would pull a cracker and his father would let him keep the first prize, just because. Then they'd probably drink and Alfred would bring out a board game or a new Playstation game and that'd end in chaos, no doubt about it...

But he never really had a choice, and he didn't even look back at his brother standing on the wreckage of the stage.

Because he really did want to see things he'd never dreamed of.

"Yes. Yes I would." Matthew smiled back widely.


	12. Sight

Sight

The Doctor's spaceship was...a big blue wooden box.

"She's called the TARDIS." He proudly informed his new companion.

"It's...she's made of wood?" Matthew replied.

"You're around sixty, seventy percent water?" The Doctor pointed out as he pulled out a normal looking Yale key and slotted it into the dulled copper lock, twisting it around. The door clicked open and he pocketed the key before pushing the door open slightly.

"Now, I feel I should be nice and warn you, the TARDIS is the best time and space ship in the entire universe." The Doctor began, looking at Matthew seriously. "And in Time."

"Okay." Matthew nodded back, itching to take a look inside the box. Because there had to be more to it than just wooden and blue paint.

The Doctor raised a pale eyebrow, "Ready?"

"Sure." Matthew nodded again.

"After you then," he said, and pushed the door open for Matthew to walk through.

A split second later, he shuffled backwards, down the metal ramp and then stopped to stand beside the Doctor. "It's bigger on the inside."

The Doctor grinned. "Are you sure?" Matthew didn't nod or shake his head, his deep blue eyes were wider than ever. "Hmmm, we'd best check that out then."

And with that he nudged Matthew forwards into the TARDIS, shutting the door behind him with a quiet click.


	13. Interior

Interior

The interior of the Doctor's spaceship looked like something out of a history book and a sci-fi novel all at the same time. The Doctor had walked up the ramp and stood by a _thing_ in the centre of the room; long and cylindrical with transparent tubes backlit by a soft golden light which made the room seem a little more comforting and a bit less intimidating.

Matthew walked up the ramp slowly after him. There was a plush red carpet on the left, along with a black couch while the rest of the floor was covered with grating. Heavy drapes in rich deep reds and purples hung across the walls, and a coat stand stood by an open doorway leading to a corridor. A large tapestry hung on the curved wall to the side, and next to it was a shiny suit of armour holding a rusty broadsword.

"This," the Doctor flung his arms out proudly while Matthew stared in awe at the surroundings. "Is the console room!"


	14. Flying

Flying

"Now, here's a message from your pilot to the new passenger; better grab a hold onto something." The Doctor said as he moved around the console and played with the controls like one would with a piano. Switches were flicked, buttons pressed and depressed, and levers were pulled down into position. "Sometimes there can be turbulence." His boots tapped on the metal floor with rhythm, as if he was dancing.

"Turbulence?" Matthew wondered before there was a grinding, metallic sounds as the transparent tubes into the time rotor glowed brighter and began to move up and down.

Suddenly his stomach lurched downwards and he yelped, "Turbulence!"

"That's the Time Vortex for ya!" The Doctor called back over the din as the TARDIS whirled and spun. "Just Matthew Williams, from London in 2012...you're travelling through space and time!"

"Amazing!" Matthew let out a chuckle and a _'whoah'_ as the ship lurched and shuddered mid flight, twisting between moments in time.

"Do you think I should get a captain's hat?" The Doctor mused, leaning backwards and looking at his reflection in the mirror. "I bet I have one...probably somewhere near the fez."


	15. Positive

Positive

The Doctor reached out a hand to help Matthew to his feet after a particular violent spin had thrown him along the railings, causing him to land on his back onto the red carpet. "Thanks."

"Right then, let's see where we are." The Doctor said, walking down the ramp and he threw the doors open.

Matthew felt the urge to yell out, "_No_!" Because the doors were wooden, and if they really were in space, then wouldn't all the air be sucked out?

But instead they opened to a black sea which stretched out so much further than the eye could see. And hanging like baubles, suspended in the darkness of space were blazing stars turning into pinpricks as they spread out over the vast distance. Matthew rushed forwards, one hand clutching onto the railings of the ramp, "We're in space!"

"Yep. The Armeti Cluster." The Doctor pointed, straight out in front of himself, "And, if you carry on flying, that way...for about, say a thousand years at light speed you'll hit the Milky Way. Then it's only about fifty years till Sol 3, that's Earth by the way."

"A thousand and fifty years."

"Believe me?" The Doctor turned his head to ask Matthew.

"Yeah, I do." Matthew replied wholeheartedly.


	16. Solace

Solace

The Doctor stared at Matthew. The nagging feeling that he had been alone for too long, in the depths of his ship and running even faster than before had left him with a guilt ridden soul.

The fact that he had, maybe, found a friend lightened it. Just Matthew Williams, yes, just a bit lighter. He took some solace in that, nurturing a spark of hope. It was nice to have a friend around. While he was the Doctor and awesome, being alone was not good for him nor fun.

He smiled as he shut the doors and headed back up the ramp.

"Where shall we go?" He turned around and asked, adjusted the cuff of his jacket nonchalently. He had hung up his braces and tweed jacket, then toured the whole of the wardrobe and found nothing to his liking, yet when he had returned the blue woolen coat had been slung over the rail as if waiting for him all along.

"You're asking me?" Matthew looked a little incredulous.

The Doctor stared pointedly at the wide eyed human. "Here I was, thinking you had two brain cells to rub together to form thoughts, maybe I was wrong."

"That's rude!" Matthew retorted, a little too quietly for the Doctor to hear as he brought down a rubber mallet onto the side of the console. It caused a few bits of circuit boards to fly up into the air and a spring bounced off the time rotor to land on the floor.

"You managed to find them yet? Or did they all fall out?" He asked again, a little impatiently as the monitor whirred, fuzzed up and then decided to change its view.

Matthew opened his mouth, paused for a moment and then replied, "Anywhere."

"What?" The rubber mallet hung limp by his side.

"I said anywhere." Matthew repeated, a little more confidently.

"You're telling me...pot luck? A single moment out of time. Anywhere in the universe?" The Doctor questioned and Matthew stared back, unsure of whether he should've changed his answer. But he didn't get the chance.

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_A/N: Soooo, liking it? A review or comment would be nice, I'd love to hear from anyone who's made it this far_ ;) _I'm kinda hoping I'm not the only one who wanted to see a Doctor!Prussia, Canada!Companion fic... (and yes, I've gone and made him '12'.)_


	17. Fat

Fat

"Anywhere it is! Now get over here. I need to fuse these wires together so that the coordinates will set themselves on random." The Doctor instructed, pulling out a slim metallic cylinder from his pocket.

"What's that?" Matthew pointed at it.

_"This_ is a sonic screwdriver. Works by modulating sonic waves, with the right frequency you can pretty much do anything." He explained with a grin. "Handy for opening doors too." He pulled the two pieces of wire and then pressed a button. The sonic screwdriver hummed and the wires sparked.

The Doctor stared expectantly at the small varnished wooden monitor and then scowled.

"Any luck?"

"Fat chance. This ship ought to be in a museum...And maybe that's where we'll be off to next if she doesn't decide on behaving." He flicked his thumb on the sonic screwdriver and it hummed louder.

The wires sparked violently in response and the Doctor yelped before quickly replacing them under a console panel. "The screen's on. There's numbers. Lots of twos." Matthew helpfully pointed out from behind him.

"Two's a good number you know." The Doctor told him, pressing down on a couple of flute keys and the blue box whizzed back into the time vortex, spinning wildly.


	18. Serenity

Serenity

They landed with another thump, but this time Matthew was expecting it and he clung onto the side of the console, careful not to touch any of the buttons in case something bad happened.

"We're here." The Doctor announced gleefully.

"Where are we?"

"Could be anywhere..."

"Door?" Matthew straightened up and turned to face it.

"You first." The red eyed man swept an arm out in front of him, gesturing for Matthew to exit before him.

He walked down the ramp, his heart thudding with anticipation because he had no idea what was beyond the blue wood. His hand pulled the door open slowly, and he peered out.

"Go on," said the Doctor encouragingly. He looked as Matthew's face was bathed in gold light, matching the colour of his hair and the silent time rotor of his ship. His face was the definition of awe.

The human had experienced the calm of space, where planets were light years of travel away from each other and stars' orbits sung in low tunes to fill up the void.

The time in which they had landed was far from the serenity of the vacuum of space, and Matthew couldn't hold back a gasp as he stared on at London in 1907.


	19. Dusk

Dusk

The clattering of the cab's metal wheels over cobbles and horses hooves clopping along filtered through to his ears first. Matthew stared around, eyes blinking from the smog spewing from the factories lining the streets. There were Victorian buildings and pavements with some people making their way home. Dusk signalled the end of the working day and rush hour was full underway with the road full of carriages.

The Doctor led him down a few streets, and Matthew had to side step around people who walked along with purpose. People wearing shabby factory clothes morphed into men with briefcases and smart suits. A few women wearing warm coats and large dresses passed by as they were escorted to dinner, smirking at Matthew's attire of blue jeans.

"London, 1907!" The Doctor leaned in to tell Matthew as they walked side by side. "If we were here a year later, we could've stopped by to see the first London Olympics." The Doctor shook his head and then began to count on his fingers.


	20. Luck

Luck

"Just my luck, eh?" Matthew chuckled, and attempted to look a little disappointed at the sight.

The Doctor turned to stare at him. "What, oh." He laughed as he realised that Matthew thought he was annoyed with where they had ended up. "I didn't mean it like that."

"That's good then, because we're here now." Matthew pointed out, waving a hand before rushing forwards as they reached the Embankment. The stone barrier stretched alongside the Thames and the riverboats belched out sooty fumes as they travelled along the murky waters. "We're...in the past!" Matthew exclaimed, before lowering his voice as Londoners turned to stare. "We're in 1907!" He whispered with the same enthusiasm.

"Just your luck." The Doctor elbowed him as he stared over the landscape before turning around slowly and tipping his head to the side. "Can you hear that buzzing noise?"


	21. Follow

Follow

Matthew wasn't quite sure how they had ended up among the hulking wooden looms of a textile factory, but cotton fluff and dust covered the floor as he crept along. He thought on what the Doctor's last words had been.

_"Rule number one when you're travelling with me. You do as I say. Now, you go back to the TARDIS and you wait until I get back. Got that?" _He had told him with a wagging finger and a pompous tone.

Matthew had only stared back and then watched as the Doctor had raced off in a blur; sonic screwdriver pointed out whirring loudly and the bright red light flashing madly.

Of course, he was chasing after him in a heartbeat, but the Doctor was quick and Matthew could only just about keep him in sight as he tore down the busy streets. Eventually he spotted the Doctor flashing the sonic at a factory door with a heavy metal padlock that dropped to the floor with a clunk, and then he rushed inside.

There was silence from the ground floor, so he ran to the far edge of the room. Metal rang out loudly as he ran up the staircase that spiralled upwards, past the first floor, and then the second. He slowed down slightly, his feet making soft clacks instead of loud stomps, to catch his breath. There was a faint buzzing noise which he could now hear, filling up his ear in an irritating fashion.

Suddenly a voice cut though it shouting out, "Hello, I'm the Doctor! Just on a bit of a holiday and passing through..."


	22. Negative

Negative

The Doctor had then lowered his volume, reverting to speaking his words. "Now you know my story, what's yours?"

"What's he doing?" Matthew whispered to himself, unsure of what to do as he continued to creep up the stairs.

The buzzing noise suddenly cut out and another voice replaced it as it answered the question. "We need resources.

"The inhabitants of this planet are not resources-" The Doctor retorted as Matthew reached the third floor. He walked through the rows of looms and then crouched down; the Doctor was on the far left of the factory floor beside large wooden crates which lined the dank walls.

"Negative. This is a Level 2 planet. They haven't reached the stars. We can use their resources." The alien voice interrupted him.

Matthew leaned forwards, trying to see the speaker. He could make out a dark silhouette of a man wearing a suit. He was holding a bottle green briefcase by his side stiffly.

"Not without going through due process. If the Shadow Proclamation knew...Tell you what, I'll give you a chance. One chance to leave." The Doctor considered as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the alien. "Or I will the teleportation code which will transport you back to your ship and remotely set your ship's next coordinates to fly you back to your planet myself. Because you can't stay here."


	23. Façade

Façade

"And you can switch off that Shimmer too," said the Doctor pointedly.

The façade vaporized with a flash of light.

In the place of the grey suited Victorian man stood a large _being_ with silver claws.

It had silvery grey fur, lots of it, shaggy and untamed hanging down in thick matted locks with its arms morphing into metallic limbs extruding from underneath its shoulders in the place of expected fur covered alien flesh. It stalked forwards towards the Doctor, turning its head from side to side. Its head was covered in a fine layer of fur, less thick but moved with every sweep of the breeze coming in through the large windows. The alien's dull silver eyes were fixed on his prey, annoyed at the fact it had been caught out and ordered to leave by someone just as otherworldly as it.

Matthew inched away from the staircase and closer to the Doctor too. He could see that the Time Lord was searching around, darting quickly between the rows of machines, extending the distance between himself and the monster.

The Doctor noticed Matthew and moved closer to the loom where he was crouched behind before frowning at him. "I thought I told you to go back to the TARDIS?" He whispered with annoyance, still keeping an eye on the alien as it moved around the factory floor.

"Rule number one. Always the first rule to be broken!" He huffed, and if they weren't crouching behind a loom hiding from a stalking alien monster out of a child's nightmare then Matthew might have assumed that the Doctor may have crossed his arms and stamped his feet.

"I didn't quite catch that." Matthew told him with a small grin.

But his expression rapidly turned into horror as they both scrambled to their feet as the alien let out a roar, launching itself in their direction. It knocked over another loom, sending it to the floor and the wood splintered, threads snagging and ripping. The two time travellers dived out of the way as quickly as they could.

"I think I made it angry." The Doctor hazarded a guess as the alien thrashed around, knocking into the looms and destroying the material being made. "Blind rage." He tutted and pulled Matthew out of the way as another wooden frame ricocheted through the air, hitting the wall with a deafening crash.

"Well it's obviously not happy." Matthew replied sarcastically, backing away from a teetering loom and ducking as a table was thrown. He landed on the floor and shuffled backwards using his hands.

"No, I mean it. It's actually blind, it can't see. This is all just a show. We'll be in trouble when there's silence and it'll hear every...footstep...!" The Doctor's petered off as the alien stopped demolishing the room, its arms hanging down by its hairy body. It was as still as a contemporary statue in an art gallery.

Matthew could hear nothing apart from the frantic beating of his heart as the alien turned around slowly to face them, head cocked to the side and listening intently.

"Now we're in trouble," he whispered as the Doctor moved to reach out and help him to his feet.

"We need to get out of here!" The Doctor said urgently, knowing there was no use in trying to be silent.

He began to drag Matthew backwards towards the stairs as the monster lumbered forwards towards them.


	24. Oblivion

Oblivion

"This could go wrong in so many ways!" The Doctor shouted as they pelted down the stairs.

"You think?" Matthew shouted back, reaching for the railing to steady himself.

Only the railing shuddered under his fingers and then creaked loudly, before a metallic screeching sound made them both wince as the entire staircase buckled.

The alien slammed into it repeatedly from above, making it shake violently and pull away from the brackets in the wall.

Then it lurched and dropped, sending the two time travellers plummeting down, not into oblivion, but towards the concrete ground floor of the factory.


	25. Desperation

Desperation

Matthew screamed and the Doctor dug his fingers into the human's beige overcoat, grasping onto his shoulder tightly and then threw himself over the side of the railings.

The staircase lurched downwards.

Matthew felt his feet rise up away from the grubby metal steps and then hang in mid air.

"Stop wriggling." The Doctor grunted as he clung onto the side of the floor, scrabbling forwards with his one free hand to get himself over the edge.

Matthew peeked a look down and saw that there was nothing but air between him and the ground floor, many, many feet down below. "Oh, that's not good." He noted, trying not to move as the Doctor attempted to pull himself upwards.

"It's probably not going to get much better." The Doctor said, shuffling backwards so that he wasn't hanging over the edge anymore and half lying on the wood of the second floor. He reached his other hand forwards and then grabbed onto the other side of Matthew's coat, dragging him upwards too.

A few moments later, Matthew lay face down on the floor and breathing hard. "Thanks for that."

The Doctor frowned as he sat up and began to rummage through his pockets, "I thought I told you to go back to the TARDIS?"

"You already said that." Matthew rolled onto his side and then slowly got to his feet. He peered over the edge and looked down, confirming that it would've been a very long way to fall.

"Did I? Well, rule number one seems to have changed." The Doctor dragged himself to his feet and sighed at the dusty state of his blue woollen coat. "New rule number one, listen to what I say, and do what I tell you."

"Run!" Matthew yelled as he looked up.

"Hang on a minute-" But Matthew was already dragging the disgruntled Time Lord back, and out of the way of the falling alien who had thrown itself down through the hole the staircase had previously occupied, aiming for its new prey.


	26. Melancholy

Melancholy

The alien landed squarely on its legs, inches from the edge of the hole. It roared once more, before the sound tapered off into a low whine.

The Doctor stepped back as the alien stepped forwards. "Look, I know you aren't pleased to see me. These days nobody is...But is _this _the right way to go about it?"

The alien let out a guttural snarl and lurched forwards. Matthew shuffled back, dragging the Doctor along with him. But the alien feinted to the left and the right, and the Doctor took the smallest steps, allowing the distance to close between them, his arms raised out in front of him and his voice a little softer.

"I did what I could. I tried my best."

The alien whimpered while Matthew froze. "What is it? What's...wrong?" He asked, confused at how the situation had been turned on its. The monster seemed to have shrunk into itself, the silver fur which had stood on edge making it look so much larger, now lay flat and it quivered. "Doctor, what's it saying?"


	27. Gloom

Gloom

"_It_, is a Mospavtoso, and we've met before. In a way. There was a situation, a bit like your theatre. Only things didn't go so well and I couldn't save them."

The alien wailed, it's whole hairy body shook.

"But...it's using the factory..." Matthew broke off, looking around the room. "The workers?"

"Yes, why do you need humans?" The Doctor quizzed.

The alien opened it's dark blue maw and spoke, the words were disjointed and harsh with its blue stained teeth framing its lips in clustered endless rows. "We need resources. There are few kin left. We need workers."

"You'll have to do it yourself, these humans have their own things to sort out." The Doctor replied promptly, leaving no room for discussion.

The alien howled and hissed and wailed, the sound rolled into one which sent the hairs on Matthew's neck on end. But then he petered out to a low rumbled of acceptance. And more than anything, the atmosphere of fear had been replaced by one of sadness.

His heart had slowed down to a much more healthier rate, his breaths evened some reason he seemed to understand what the strange, threatening and frankly scary alien meant. Matthew didn't think that aliens spoke English, and he really didn't think that he would feel some sympathy for an alien which had only stopped trying to kill him a few moments ago.


	28. Tryst

Tryst

After a moment's silence the Doctor had come to a decision on the matter. "You need to leave." His voice was flat and toneless.

"But, isn't there something you can do, to help?" Matthew asked, the words falling out of his mouth before he realised. He hadn't even thought of them, not consciously. But the sight of the alien, and the way it had changed its actions was something he couldn't quite shake off.

The Doctor stared down the alien. "You have to leave this planet. And swear on the blood of your species that you'll never return."The Doctor stared down at the alien. Its blank, silver furred face tipped to the side, as though listening closely. "...And, I'll see what I can do."

"I swear." The Mospavtoson replied without a moment's hesitation. "Help." The word was full of pleading.

The Doctor could never refuse, and he began rummaging through his pockets, pulling out fistfuls of gadgets, before turning to his side with a quick, "Here," and dumped them in Matthew's cupped hands.

His new companion could only watch incredulously at the amount of things which began to pile up, overflowing his hands. He tried his best not to drop anything. "All of that, in your pockets!" He stared as a long string of multicoloured handkerchiefs floated down onto a lump of moon rock and a slinky that he had caught around his little finger.

The Doctor scoffed, "Easily distracted you lot." He tutted and Matthew realised that the Time Lord's pockets were very much like his ship. _Bigger on the inside. Is everything in the universe this mad?_

Then the Doctor stepped forwards towards the Mospavtoson and held out a small circular device, the thing he had been rooting around for. It was the size of a marble, dark black and with a silver port dipping in on the underside.

"Take care of that. It'll help find you a new home. It's programmed; all you have to do is plug it in." He instructed, dropping it into the furry left claw of the alien.

The Mospavtoson hummed, a low grateful sound. "Visit."

"Someday." The Doctor replied with a small, sad smile and then pulled out his sonic screwdriver, pointing it at the alien. Matthew watched as it disappeared in a flash of blue lightening leaving behind a few wisps of smoke and an acrid smell.


	29. Hiatus

Hiatus

They walked slowly back to the TARDIS. It was late evening now, and there were fewer people on the street. The gas lamps had been lit, throwing soft arcs of flickering light over the houses and cobbled roads. A black hansom cab passed by, the horses trotting slowly as they returned someone home. The driver nodded in passing to the Doctor and Matthew, and Matthew waved back.

"Well, it's been an eventful visit, hasn't it?" The Doctor mused quietly as they turned a corner, the clopping sound of the horses hooves melted away.

"Yeah, it has." Matthew replied back, his eyes still drinking in the present which was all history to him. He knew that he'd never see London like this again and wanted to remember everything. From the awful smell of the streets to the way the smog hung in the air in a haze.

"You alright?" The Doctor asked, and slowed his pace down until they came to a stop. He looked over Matthew. "You're not...angry...I mean, the whole running for your life and the fact you were nearly killed-"

He broke off and looked off past Matthew's shoulder not knowing what else to say but kicking himself internally.

_Great going, just when you might have had a friend. You go and scare them off by getting them fearing for their life. Not awesome, Doctor, not awesome at all._

"No, it wasn't your fault!" Matthew quickly butted in, watching the man frown towards the river. "Do you do that a lot? Jump in and help people?"


	30. Hope

Hope

The Doctor's crimson eyes widened for a moment before he nodded. He shuffled off along the street and Matthew followed. "I do my best to help. Sometimes it doesn't work."

"This time it did, eh?" Matthew said with a smile.

The Doctor thought back to the Mospavtoson and the fact that things had been resolved fairly peacefully. "It did, didn't it." He smiled back and his shoulders lifted a little.

They reached the TARDIS and they walked in, Matthew shutting it after himself. He walked up to the console where the Doctor had busied himself with pressing buttons and typing on a battered, bright purple typewriter which had twice as many keys than ones he had seen.

They spoke at the same time.

"So, where are we going next-?"

"Best get you home then-"

While Matthew's face fell and his smile slipped off, the Doctor paused, stared and then smirked.


	31. Emerald

Emerald

Matthew opened and closed his mouth, rather like a clownfish, before blurting out, "What?"

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders. "Well, if you really do want to stay..." He tried to keep the hopeful tone out of his voice, but it snuck back in and Matthew smiled at it.

"Yes, I do." He nodded earnestly. He reached over to the monitor and tapped the side. "So, um, how does this...all work?"

The Doctor sprung into action. "That's the time rotor. Those, blue thingy, are stabilisers. Over there, not the grey one, the green one, is the time space inducers." With a free hand he pointed out each component quickly.

"What's this one?" Matthew pointed to an emerald lever which was firmly stuck between exposed circuit boards that blinked under the golden chandelier light.

The Doctor looked down with a large smile. "That, is the wibbley detector!"

Matthew drew his hand back away from it. "And, what does that do?"

The Doctor leaned against the side of the console's bronze rimmed edge. "It detects if there's temporal distortions, flags up any code mauve's, and if we're in the vicinity of a diner serving pancakes then it adjusts the parking gear so we land in a three mile vicinity. It would've been two miles but hairdryers."

He gave a little shrug as though it explained it all so Matthew nodded seriously while wondering about the pancakes and how they could be connected to danger and temporal happenings. "Right. So that's important."

"Sometimes." The Doctor waved a hand over it, "Go on then. A one in five chance of the best pancakes you've ever tasted."

Matthew chuckled nervously and then took hold of the lever. It was cool to the touch but the metal hummed from the vibrations that ran along the whole of the TARDIS.


	32. Dulcet

Dulcet

"Here goes, eh?" And with that Matthew pulled it down, the lever clicked into place, gears locking in around it and the time rotor whirred noisily upwards.

The Doctor sprung into action once more, darting around the circular console. The dulcet tones of the engines whirring filled the room, music to his ears.

Matthew was more than prepared the third time they took off into the time vortex, so he hung onto the side of the panel and watched as the monitor showed circular patterns before flashing green spirals and filling up with 3's.

"It's locked on. Pancakes or no, off we go!" The Doctor shouted cheerfully.


	33. Tragedy

Tragedy

The Doctor exited the TARDIS in the rush, flinging the doors open as quickly as he could with the excitement of a new place. Suddenly, his feet scrambled to a halt and then he flung his arms out, reaching backwards to stop Matthew from following him outside.

"Mauve. But it wasn't a call for help, it's a warning." The Doctor breathed out harshly, eyes wide as he surveyed around, wincing as the sky lit up, then exploded.

Then the ground shuddered violently as a shell landed in the ground several hundred yards away and threw up a column of churned up mud and dirt.

"Where are we? It's... a war..." Matthew said with horror, peering around the Doctor's shoulder to see the sight of the battlefield.

"World War One. The _Great _War." The Doctor said quietly, watching as several other spots were bombed. Fire licked up from a few spots, burning the few colourless trees with skeleton branches that had been left stripped of leaves, their gnarled and deformed like the slowly stiffening bodies left behind on the ground underneath.

Then there was a short silence before the sounds of gun shots restarted. "Back in the TARDIS. In! In!" The Doctor repeated, shoving Matthew backwards.

Matthew made to protest, to say something, but another shell landed closer than the one from before causing the side of the TARDIS to be splattered with sludge and mud. His eyes grew wide in panic as the sounds of men crying out with their last breaths filled the air. His feet froze but his legs shook and the sound of his breath echoed in his ears as he stared and stared and stared at the awful sight.

The Doctor had had enough. "We're leaving. Williams, that's an order! Get back in the TARDIS, now!" The Doctor demanded, giving him another shove so that his legs realised that they were connected to feet and he lurched backwards, arms stretched to hold onto the railing. The Doctor then grabbed his upper arm to stop him from falling down and lead him up the steps towards the high-backed armchairs deep inside the security of the blue box.


	34. Relinquish

Relinquish

The Doctor didn't relinquish his hold until Matthew was seated, then he launched himself at the console and hurriedly took off, the time rotor speeding as fast it could to avoid bombs. The whirring of it sounding like it was being pushed beyond the normal limits with the hurry.

"Mauve alert," he repeated and shook his head. "Stupid, stupid humans."

Then he turned around and had a look at Matthew; the human wore a pallid expression with his blue eyes washed out, no doubt the interior of the TARDIS replaced with the scene of war he had just seen.

"Matthew?" He called out, "You're in the TARDIS now, safe. Look."

Matthew released a breath he had been holding for longer than he had known, then blinked as his eyes focussed on the Doctor. He reached up a finger to adjust his glasses, pushing them back into place.

"Yeah, TARDIS. Safe," he repeated robotically.

There was silence as Matthew sat still and breathed, trying to shake the imprint images from his mind's eye and block out the shouts of the dying men. Because they were all in a place where the wrong moment could have them meet with death, and war was full of them.

"You didn't freak out." Matthew spoke up after a while; after his limbs had relaxed and he took note of the time rotor moving up and down to the rhythm of the engines somewhere in the bowels of the time ship. "It was all...there were bombs and everything, and you didn't panic at all."

"I've been running all of my awesome life; I think I know how to keep calm in a situation like that." The Doctor pointed towards the door and then remembered that they were floating somewhere around the calm solar tides of Alfji Mat 6.

"You gave me an order." Matthew frowned, "Were...you a solider?"

The Doctor stared at him before laughing; the sound might have been bitter and harsh, only he smiled sadly as he looked away. "You meant to ask; have you fought in a war?"

* * *

A/N: Ummm, anyone out there? I'd really appreciate any feedback, drabble stories are fun, but I sometimes get carried away. Is there enough plot/characterisation/and that magic thing: description?  
*also...Reapergal08 and I have begun a Harry Potter X Hetalia crossover series named Of Magic and Mayhem (parts 1 and 2), so if you like this AU, give Pottertalia a go! :D


	35. Shivers

Shivers

Matthew twitched his leg, stretching it out. "Well, yeah..."

He sounded sheepish about asking, but it was the cold, crisp way in which the Time Lord had ordered him back into the task that suited him to be barking orders when there were bullets firing or alien space rays slicing through the air.

"I've stood in the middle of wars so many times I've stopped counting. But fought in one? Once upon a time on my own planet, when it was still around." The Doctor replied, not meeting his eyes as he fiddled with a Rubik's cube.

"What happened?" Matthew enquired tentatively. He wanted to know the answer, but even breaching the topic had dimmed the Time Lord's red eyes from fire to cinders.

The Doctor sighed, "Not a lot of good. No one ever won. I mean I'm still alive. But everything's lost. Gallifrey's gone. And I'm the Last of the Time Lords." He plopped down onto the side of the burgundy chaise longue and swung his legs around so that he sat opposite Matthew, fingers aligning the multicoloured squares.

Now he seemed to look a lot older than his face belied. When Matthew had first spoken to the Doctor, he had seemed, maybe around his late twenties as he had darted onto the stage. But now as he was hunched over motionless and weighed down by possibly endless years. And when he looked up, the strange, ancient eyes were clouded up, looking past Matthew and the present, seeing ghosts that lingered around his shoulders and walked alongside him.

"So, you..." Matthew began, prompting the other man to finish or leave it hanging. The Doctor had stilled his fingers and instead held the cube, leaving Matthew unsure of what he would say.

But he finished off his story, his history.

"I saved the universe. And it meant stopping my own people from committing something so terrible you can't even begin to comprehend. But I did it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I had to." The Doctor's sober tone was chilling, the flatness of his voice made Matthew shrink back a little.

He had seen a handful of aliens, stared into space and taken a trip back in time, but Matthew knew he couldn't argue with the Doctor's words. He didn't have any idea. Not even an inkling. The universe was just too big a place to write such big declarations about.

He parted his lips a few times before he decided on what words he could say to the sombre Time Lord. "-I'm sorry."


	36. Laziness

Laziness

The Doctor shook his head and leaned forwards, placing the Rubik's cube back into a small compartment. "It's over and done with now. A fixed point that even I can't change, even if I wanted to. Let's just...move on."

His left foot shifted as he switched his weight and turned around to face the console. Matthew agreed and the Doctor stuck his arm out to drag the monitor around.

"Now, that the past is left suitably in the past, shall we be off?" He continued.

"Really?" Matthew asked tentatively.

"I can't abide laziness, unpunctual people or temporal events...and warm beer. Or in any case, this awesome face doesn't." The Doctor waved a hand before his visage then swept across the floor and around the control panel to lift a flap and connect two wires with an almighty spark.

"But, what about having a breather?" asked Matthew as he forced himself to his feet, with some effort as he imagined the kind of place they would visit next. The thought of going anywhere was slowly dawning on him- anywhere holding a good, or bad experience.

"Breather-smeather." The Doctor scoffed, his nose wrinkling up and his lips twisting up in a lazy grin, "Now, adventure...or-"

"-Adventure!" Matthew butted in quickly, if there was some option, adventure it'd be.

The Doctor burst out cackling, leaning over the console. "Well said." He nodded and then began to input coordinates. "An awesome adventure it is then!"


	37. Birthday

Birthday

High Empress of Sheba-Po's Grand Hall was filled with an amalgamation of peoples, both alien and human. Music, a cross between jazz and some electronic bleeping, filled the hall from corner to corner and a space in the centre of the room had been cleared for people to dance.

The Doctor stood beside the throne, threatening her majesty with a smile that he would show her his newly learnt dance moves, regardless having learnt them in the 1800's. "I say, we should dance. Look at them. You and I could show them a thing or two!"

Across the room, aliens and humans and variations thereupon were engaged in several different dancing styles for the same piece of music. Electroswing ran out from the speakers and humans dressed as Roman soldiers waltzed the room in a quick jive.

The High Empress had laughed openly and shook her head. Her sparkling sapphire and iron headdress glimmered in under the disco lights.

"No, thank you Doctor. However, I can command you to dance." She waved her hand dismissively, smirking at him.

"That you can." He replied, straightening his shoulders to stand to attention, ready to take the order.

She ignored his teasing and asked a question that had been on her mind ever since he had been introduced by the announcer. "I see you have changed your face, again." This time she turned to face him, scrutinising his new features before giving an approving nod.

"Yes." He replied after a moment, watching the lights swirl around the room, bouncing off one guest's metal hat. He turned back to face her, a blinding white smile on his face. "Awesome new face, don't you think?"

"An accident?" She asked, a soft smile on her face.

The Doctor didn't reply, instead he pointed down, "You haven't met my new friend yet. Don't rush off anywhere." He waved his arms and ran down the steps.

"She's the Queen of Sheba." Matthew mumbled under his breath at the foot of the steps, trying to reconcile the facts and what he could see of the 71st century party.

"Oh no, there hasn't been a Queen of Sheba, since, well...the original. Now she knew how to throw a party." The Doctor told Matthew as he walked back down to introduce him to the High Empress.

She was sitting in her large, padded throne; the arms of it were curved over elegantly and the feet were carved and gilded with some metal that sparkled like a diamond yet had no facets. The High Empress herself was just as stunning as her seat; from her four deep blue eyes to her deep red locks that framed her face and hung down over her cloak.

"Your Highness." Matthew greeted her, and she smiled back gracefully. "Many happy returns for the day."

"Ah, Willliams. Welcome, welcome. Any friend of the Doctor's is a friend of ours." She then promptly licked her hand from palm to finger stump and held it out for Matthew to mimic and shake. Which he did, after a jab in the side from the Doctor's elbow.

"Your hospitality is much appreciated." The Doctor added, giving a little bow. "Now, I think we shall excuse ourselves so that you can spend time with your other guests. Party hard-"

"Like never before!" The High Empress finished off, and with a chuckle dismissed the two with a small applause.


	38. Recollect

Recollect

The courtyard outside was brimming with people but as they made their way back to the TARDIS parked in the far corner of the gardens, they became fewer until the low hum of the bushes replaced the thudding bass and the burble of chatter spilling out from the palace. The party would go on for a week, until most tired, but the temporal field set up by the Time Agency as a gift to her highness on her Diamond Anniversary would mean that the next party she held entered record books for the longest running party: three months.

"So, where are we off to next?" Matthew asked, brushing off the paper streamers from his shoulder. They had collected under the collar of his t-shirt too, and he tugged at it to loosen them.

The Doctor looked thoughtful as he scrubbed his hair, and flakes of glitter fell like snow in a blizzard. "I was thinking about the Andromeda Galaxy."

Matthew considered it for a moment. "Oh yeah, that's near the Milky Way, isn't it?"

"Practically next door, relatively speaking." The Doctor nodded, there's a star there, about to supernova, in about, oooh fourteen million years time." He checked his watch and gave another quick nod.

"Sounds like fun!"

"So, we go there, and then ride out the solar waves. Surfing them to our next stop." The Doctor pulled out the key to open the TARDIS doors as they reached the blue box, parked neatly under a trimmed dark golden hedge in the shape of the Cubes of Tianza.

He paused and then handed the key to Matthew. "Here. You might as well, seeing as you're going to be travelling with the awesome me and my awesome blue box."

"Wow." Matthew used it to open the blue door himself with a wide smile, "Thank you."

As they walked into the TARDIS, the Doctor slung his jacket off and dumped it onto the railing once more with little Matthew stood still after shutting the door at the bottom of the steps. He looked down at the gold key between his fingers and then up at the Time Lord who was swirling around the console.

A thought came to his mind, and he knew he couldn't put off asking the question for any longer. He had thought about the moment they had first took off, once he had realised he had left the broken theatre and Christmas and his brother behind.

* * *

A/N: Been a while, but I've been on holiday and then I got lazy and _then _read some of my course books...but I'm back now, (for a while anyway!) and I can kinda see where I'm going with this again yay \o/ ! Reviews/comments are treasured like Scottish shortbread which I sadly didn't get to scoff as my sister made it to the box first :')


	39. Misunderstandings

Misunderstandings

"How long do you want me to stay?" The question bubbled up out of his lips.

"What?" The Doctor asked over his shoulder as he flicked a few switched up.

"How long can I stay, here, with you in the TARDIS?" Matthew asked, shuffling his feet and back and forth on the spot, remaining at the foot of the staircase. His blond hair swayed along with him, his errant curl bobbed.

"How long do you want to stay?" The Doctor laughed, turning around in a circle and flinging his arms out, reaching for a lever to yank down. It caused the lights to flicker, change to blue and then purple.

He frowned and closed his hand around the gold key, the ridged edges poked into his palm. It looked ordinary, too ordinary to open a big blue box that was a time machine. But then again, Matthew was learning that things really weren't what they seemed.

Matthew frowned, "That's not what I asked."

"You can stay however long you want to." The Doctor told him breezily as he methodically worked the typewriter, which wasn't a typewriter.

The human companion stared at the Time Lord, and when the Doctor glanced over he realised the same look, he had seen it many times before. _Oh great._

"Well, what does that mean? _However long you want to._ I'd never want to leave. Who'd be insane enough to leave this?" Matthew asked him, eyebrows raised and waited for an answer

"Not insane..." The Doctor replied hesitantly.

The human had now put his hands on his hips, "What?"

"Sometimes people leave because they have to. Because they've seen enough. Because they want to go home." The Time Lord sighed heavily, leaning against the side of the control panel. It was difficult for him to explain. It hurt him to explain.

The human stared at him with wide eyes before throwing up his hands. "Who'd ever want to do that?"

"To go home?" The Doctor replied, fingers itching to turn around; carry on working around the console and ignore the question. He knew the answer too well, only it had taken him too long to realise it from the start.

"Yeah. You've got the whole universe here. _And_ all of time. You can go anywhere you've ever wanted. How can you ever see enough! Why on Earth would you want to go _home?_"

The Doctor opened his mouth to answer, but then he clamped it shut and shook his head furiously.

"Home." Matthew scoffed and shook his head as well. But the Doctor knew it was for a different reason.


	40. Duration

Duration

The Doctor told Matthew as plainly as he could, lifting his head to meet the human's blue eyes. He owed it to him to tell him the truth. He had owed them all; "Stay as long as you like. And when the time comes, you tell me you want to go home and I'll take you."

He knew, he had known before and he knew to remember it now, he couldn't stay with his companions, his friends and the ones he made his family forever, because forever was simply too long for anyone to have. Save for him. But they didn't understand. Forever for a human was something they couldn't compare to. To them it meant an eternity, forever. To him, the Time Lord who knew that there was no such thing. That the order of the universe was to decompose slowly, for all the stars to burn out; it's only rule was chaos.

Nine hundred years had been long enough, and nine hundred more had been even longer. He had lived too long and had kept on running because that was who he was. But that was neither here nor there when persuading his new friend to listen, to understand what he meant. It was so important for him to know now otherwise things could end so terrible.

Matthew sighed; crossing his arms he made his way up towards the control panel the Doctor was standing beside. "Like I said, I don't think anyone in their sane mind would give this up."

The Doctor carried on regardless, "And...if it comes to, and it's too dangerous for you to stay, I'll take you home too."

"Really?" Matthew paused, "Have you done that before?"

"Yes." The Doctor nodded sharply.

"And, does it happen often?" Matthew continued to question him relentlessly.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders, his bright crimson eyes staring at the floor and the mess of wiring poking out of the base of the console. "Sometimes."

"How many times?"

"It's not like I keep count!" The Doctor retorted angrily, spinning around to turn away from him. His voice was laced with anger, but Matthew was sure that he looked upset more than anything else.

"It's something you'd remember though." Matthew looked around the Doctor's shoulder. And then he realised, "It's something you don't want to remember."

"Sometimes people don't get to go home. Sometimes they...die. Understand that?" The Doctor tentatively asked Matthew, looking over his shoulder. The anger had seeped out of his voice, leaving him looking sad.

Matthew nodded meekly, "Yes. I'm sorry." He paused and moved to the side to flip over a lever the Doctor pointed at. After a few long moments of silence, he spoke up again. This time he was more cautious. "So, you've had a lot of friends here then?"

"Yeah." The Doctor replied, after staring at the time rotor. A small smile spread across his lips. Matthew thought it was an improvement to the kicked puppy look he had worn a few moments previously.

"They must have been insane, to travel with you." Matthew jested, and the Doctor leaned over to knock his shoulder against the human's.

"Oi!" He retorted, poking Matthew's arm. "They were all awesome. All of them brilliant, and fantastic and magnificent."

"Must have been." Matthew repeated, knowing that the Doctor didn't just pick up anyone, and that neither anyone could travel along with him. He wasn't even sure if he'd be able to stay as long as he wanted. After all, forever was a very, very long time. He gave him a wan smile which grew as the Doctor responded in kind.

The Doctor ran a hand through his white hair and then looked over at the monitor. "Supernova?" The Time Lord asked, "We've got a time window of only a few minutes to fly in, otherwise we'll be stuck outside the energy ripples."

Matthew leaned onto the console. "And you like being punctual, eh?"

"I'm working on it. It takes a lot of effort being this awesome. About nine hundred odd years of it." The Doctor jested back.

"Nine hundred? No, can't be." Matthew stared on in semi-shock. "But, but, you look-"

"Pretty good for it, don't I?" The Doctor laughed, knocking off centuries from the true total. After all, nine hundred sounded not too old, but full of timey wimey wisdom.


	41. Far

Far

The supernova had been the best thing Matthew had ever seen. Golden light, due to the special sunglasses the Doctor had shoved unceremoniously into his hand before racing down to pull open the doors. He had had barely enough time to push them onto his face, over his glasses before the doors were flung open and the inside of the TARDIS was bathed in gold. It was like Midas being let loose inside the time ship.

"Twenty three seconds!" The Doctor shouted out before racing up the stairs.

"Shall I shut the door?" Matthew wondered. The blast might be pretty, but he didn't want supernova flares or fires or strange space radiation flooding up the blue box which kept them alive and floating in the middle of the universe.

The Doctor waved his hand, "There might be a draft...nah, leave it open. It'll look awesome."

Matthew laughed, "Alright then!"

"It should take us, ooooh, now that is a very long way away." The Doctor looked up from his calculations, the numbers spiralling on the screen and morphing into a wave that projected their flight path.

"You know, you're right." Matthew walked back up to the console and leaned on it, looking sideways at the open door.

"Of course I'm right! I'm always right!" The Doctor looked up from the control panel, "What am I right about?" He asked confused.

Matthew hesitated for a second before elaborating, "About going home."

His fingers froze and Matthew hopped up the stairs, "Oh, right. I see. Well, this is all inputted so we'll have to ride out this solar flare, not enough time to change it."

He waggled a finger at a lever and Matthew reached over to pull it down, his attention on the Doctor flustering about.

"No, not like that. I meant, that I get what you said. Like home, with Alfred," he amended.

"Alfred?" The Doctor seemed puzzled as he tried to remember who he was.

"You saw him on the stage. He was dressed as Captain America."

"Oh yes. Right?" The Doctor dragged the word out after the prompting and remembered a figure dressed in blue, white and red holding a shield.

"I'll stay, until it's time for me to leave." Matthew said, and reached over to pat the Doctor on the shoulder grinning at him before the counter hit zero and both yelled as the shockwave hit the TARDIS and sent them spiralling off into space.


	42. Searching

Searching

He was rummaging through his pockets and pulling objects out of them, and this time around Matthew paid attention to the variety of odds and ends that emerged. They were being dumped onto the console without grace and as soon as one pocket was deemed as not having _it_ –whatever _it_ was- in there, the next was delved into.

"Exactly how big are your pockets?" Matthew wondered idly.

"However big they need to be." The Doctor said as he pulled out a can of silly string and sprayed it over the console. Blue ribbons of it flew through the air and draped themselves over the buttons and exposed circuitry. "Still works, nice."

He tossed the can over to Matthew who caught it with one hand, giving it another little squirt testing it.

"Maybe you need a better filing system?"

The Doctor made a noncommittal noise and hefted out a small, metal anchor that fitted into his palm. "Oh, so that's where it went." He told himself before hefting it over his shoulder where it crashed onto the red velvet recliner.

Matthew took the opportunity of decline attention and sprayed the Doctor with the silly string and the blue lines tangled over his black jacket. "Or, you could just shove everything back in and hope to find it again."

"Thanks." The Doctor commented with a grin, elbow deep in his inside left pocket.

Matthew leaned against the console and looked around. He found the machine-spaceship amazing with all its different functions and gizmos. He could see a dozen levers, large and small, buttons of all sorts and other twists of metal which obviously had a purpose. Or perhaps not because this was the Doctor's machine and there was a chance he had just thought they were '_awesome'_ and decided to keep them.

"You're welcome. Found whatever you're looking yet?"

The Doctor's fingers closed around crumpled paper in his pocket and his grin widened, "Think I might have!"

And with a flourish he pulled out a folded map with faded dark blue lines. He unfolded it slowly and beamed happily.

"Where are we going next?" Matthew asked.

He leant over to take a look at it. Circles were drawn all over, some looping over others with smaller spheres completely coloured in. He guessed that they were planets, as there was small, neatly inked script beside each one.

He leaned in closer, "Hang on, that's in English!"

"TARDIS translation circuits," the Doctor explained helpfully. "She does it for everyone, technically she alters the way your brain interprets the language you read, because she knows all of them."

"Oh, erm." Matthew turned to face the monitor and patted the console, "Thank you, I guess. It's probably very useful."

This made the Doctor chuckle; the sound was loud as it echoed off the metal contours. "Right then, according to this, the first stop is there." He tapped a large planet.

Matthew read the name of the planet out loud, "Mospavtoson. Isn't that where-?"

"Yep!" The Doctor nodded cheerily as he shoved the map into Matthew's hand. "And the time-scale fits in well too."

* * *

_Hope you readers are liking where this is going?!...any feedback would be helpful! _:')


	43. Treasure

Treasure

Matthew had sat in physics lessons and history classes and could draw timelines pretty well when given the correct dates, a ruler and a pen.

Unfortunately, time travel (or the nature of time travel) didn't actually work in the same way.

They had last seen a Mospavtoso, a remnant of dying species, in the year 1902 in London. They were now travelling not to Mospavtoson, the home planet which the Doctor had informed him was big and blue and had purple forests and leaves that turned the most vivid green in the autumn, but to their adopted planet which he had given the coordinates to.

And while it had been, relatively, a week and a bit since they last saw the hulking alien, they were landing on the planet at a time when the Doctor assumed it would be, at the very least, a grandfather.

"They've got good old lives Mospavtosos. I bet it'll be surrounded by a whole gang of fluffy terrors."

"I'll bet." Matthew replied, raising his eyebrows as the TARDIS landed, "Any chance you'll actually explain why we're here?"

"That piece of paper you're holding, is a map." The Doctor's eyes narrowed dangerously, and left two shining red slits that focused in on the creased paper.

Matthew had only had a few days to acquaint himself with the Time Lord, but he knew that particular look meant there would be some running, perhaps danger, and an equal chance of trouble with a capital t involved.

"Yes, you said that. But why are we following a map, what's on it?"

"It's a treasure map!" The Doctor corrected him with a loud cackle.

They landed with a thump and the doors were pushed open eagerly. "Treasure? Are you serious?"

"Yep!" The Doctor nodded.

Matthew's thoughts raced off imagining space treasure and alien gems that glittered and changed colour.

"Of course, we'll have to keep in mind this map is old. Very, very old. It could be that by the time we get there, there is no treasure." The Doctor tacked on, half considering it but more interested in the prospect of an adventure.

"Oh." Matthew's voice fell a little.

The Doctor seemed unconcerned, "But probably not, seeing as I just need one last piece to the puzzle to find out which time period we need to land in."


End file.
